This past weekend I was busy. Semi-major front-end overhaul. Just hit 200K miles a few weeks ago. It was in dire need..
Replaced all of the following:
1. Shocks/struts assemblies.
2. New CV axles both sides & intermediate shaft on driver side.
3. New upper & lower ball joints - both sides.
4. New hubs/wheel bearings.
5. New rotors & pads.
I know opinions vary about the Rancho shocks & leveling kit, but the Rancho set I replaced was 8-years old and one finally blew about 2 months ago. I don't do heavy off-road. I live about 5 miles off a paved road, so I do what I consider "light" off road on dirt/gravel roads. We'll see how the next set goes.
Upgraded the CV axles and hubs to something a bit beefier. Pleased with the quality. Time will tell.
Brakes. Went with the Powerstop coated rotors and ceramic pads. Did the bedding process yesterday and parked it. Headed out for work this morning and just about launched myself through the windshield when I went to stop with my normal pedal press! That will take a few days to get used to..
The one thing I was seriously worried about turned out to be a complete nothingburger. Pulling the CV axles. I picked up a CV puller hook for $20 at the auto parts store. Paired with my slide hammer, both sides came right off with three whacks. No torching, no cutting, no beating it from under the vehicle with a sledgehammer. I don't live in the rust belt, so that helps and I had been crawling under the truck every day for a week after work spraying PB Blaster back up into the shaft splines at the differential. The new CV axles went on without incident. Greased up the ends with some red grease, lined up splines and gave a good shove - "click". Removal and replacement of the axles took no more than 15 minutes, tops.
Now she's driving like a new truck. 75 MPH down the freeway and smooth as silk. Let go of the wheel and no pulling right or left. Running true. In ten years, I've never had to have my Ram aligned.
I can't say the same thing about the 2014 F1XX my wife drives. Going back to the 80's, I've never had a FxxD that could hold an alignment!